Bicycle industry

The bicycle industry or cycling industry can broadly be defined as the industry concerned with bicycles and cycling. It includes at least bicycle manufacturers, part or component manufacturers, and accessory manufacturers. It can also include distributors, retailers, bicycle organizations, bicycle event promoters, and bicycle related service providers.

The Global Bicycle Industry generates sales for over $45 billion in 2017 and is forecasted, according to analyst consensus, at 6-0% per annum over the next 5 years.[1]

In 2016 in the United States it generated $6 billion of revenue,[2] and in Europe it generated €14 billon in revenues.[1]

Manufacturing

Bicycle manufacturers
Main article: List of bicycle manufacturers

Bicycle component manufacturers
Main article: List of bicycle part manufacturers

Distribution

Bicycle and component distributors

Local bicycle and component retailers
Main article: Local bike shop
This section is an excerpt from Bike shop.[edit]
A local bike shop
A bicycle mechanic at a local bike shop
View of recumbent bicycles inside a local bike shop
Bicycles and exercise equipment for sale inside a local bike shop

A bike shop or bicycle shop is a business specializing in bicycle sale, maintenance and parts.

Bike shops may be small businesses, chain, mail-order or online vendors. Local bike shops (sometimes abbreviated LBS[3]) are a key component of the bicycle industry and, in recognition of the value that local bike shops provide, some manufacturers only sell their bicycles through dealerships. In the UK and Ireland, the expression independent bicycle dealers (IBDs) is also used.[4]

Services and events

Touring
Main article: Bicycle_touring § Bike_touring_associations

Racing
Main article: Union Cycliste Internationale

Trade

Advocacy
Main article: Cycling advocacy

Besides advocating for greater safety, comfort, and convenience for bicyclists, many members of the industry promote bicycles for poverty alleviation. Experiments done in Africa (Uganda and Tanzania) and Sri Lanka on hundreds of households have shown that a bicycle can increase the income of a poor family by as much as 35%.[5][6][7] Transport, if analyzed for the cost-benefit analysis for rural poverty alleviation, has given one of the best returns in this regard. For example, road investments in India were a staggering 3-10 times more effective than almost all other investments and subsidies in rural economy in the decade of the 1990s. What a road does at a macro level to increase transport, the bicycle supports at the micro level. The bicycle, in that sense, can be one of the best means to eradicate poverty in poor nations.

World Bicycle Relief, which specializes in large-scale, comprehensive bicycle distribution programs to aid poverty relief and disaster recovery initiatives in developing countries around the world, includes among its sponsors such notable companies as Accell Group, Bicycle Technologies International, Giant Bicycles, GT Bicycles, Quality Bicycle Products, Shimano, SRAM Corporation, Specialized Bicycle Components, and Trek Bicycle Corporation.

Publications

Notable publications about bicycles and cycling include:

See also

References
  1. "Cycling Sales to Grow by 38% to 56 Billion euros in 2024". Bike Europe.
  2. "Topic: Cycling". Statista.
  3. "Sheldon Brown's Glossary: LBS". Retrieved 2001-01-21.
  4. "Welcome to the ACT website". Archived from the original on 2006-12-05. Retrieved 2007-01-15.
  5. "Bicycle: The Unnoticed Potential". BicyclePotential.org. 2009. Archived from the original on 25 June 2011. Retrieved 2011-07-09.
  6. Niklas Sieber (1998). "Appropriate Transportation and Rural Development in Makete District, Tanzania" (PDF). Journal of Transport Geography. 6 (1): 69–73. doi:10.1016/S0966-6923(97)00040-9. Retrieved 2011-07-09.
  7. "Project Tsunami Report Confirms The Power of Bicycle" (PDF). World Bicycle Relief. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2010-12-26. Retrieved 2011-07-09.
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